Election tribunal upholds Ugwuanyi’s election

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu, yesterday upheld the election of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State in the April 11, 2015 governorship election.

It struck out the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Okey Ezea, on the grounds that it was frivolous, lacked merit and against court processes.

This was followed by a cost of N150,000 to each of the 6 respondents in the petition.

Delivering the judgment, which lasted for over three hours, the Chairman of the three-man tribunal, Justice Kwajafa Hildad, among other findings, held that the tribunal had earlier in the course of the hearing struck out several paragraphs of Ezea’s petition for being imprecise, vague, related to party nomination, which is a pre-election matter and contained criminal allegation against people who were not made parties to the petition.

He added that the petitioners’ allegation on over-voting and non-accreditation through the manipulation of the Card Readers Machine by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other respondents were not sufficiently proved, as it is only the voters’ register that could determine the number of voters that participated in an election, stating that the petitioner failed to provide the voters’ registers to prove his case.

The tribunal also noted that the petitioners’ witnesses, six 6 persons drawn from 6 polling units out of the 2,958 polling units in the state, was not sufficient to provide enough evidence to support his case, rendering it incompetent.

It further held that even at that, the six witnesses admitted that the governorship election was free, fair and peaceful, with minor irregularities which were not sufficient enough to cancel the election.

It deposed that the petitioners also failed to prove their allegation of falsification result figures, maintaining that mere assertion that the figures were falsified was not enough evidence to allow them their prayers.

The tribunal went on to dismiss the petition and upheld the election of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as valid.

Reacting on the judgment, the Vice Chairman of Association of Local Government Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGON) Enugu State chapter , Nnanna Nze, described it as a reflection of the wishes of the majority of the people of Enugu State.

Nze said that the judgment has proved that Enugu is a PDP State and the governor was freely elected by the people.

The news was greeted with loud cheers by supporters of Governor Ugwuanyi, who went into wild jubilation, singing victory songs in praise of the governor, who drove round major streets of Enugu, accompanied by local government chairmen.

Meanwhile, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has congratulated Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on the victory, describing it as victory for the people of the state.

Reacting to the verdict, he said it was a reaffirmation of the overwhelming popularity of the governor and the strength of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in Enugu State in particular and the South East in general.

Ekweremadu further observed that the decision of the tribunal did not come as a surprise to the people of Enugu State and realistic political pundits around the country because Enugu State remained an indisputable stronghold of the PDP.

He added: “Some petitions are sheer fulfilment of all political righteousness. The volume of Ugwanyi’s goodwill and popularity among the political class and the masses as a governorship aspirant, candidate, and now an incumbent governor is unprecedented.

So, we made the right choice and what the tribunal has just done is to confirm that our choice was fairly, freely, and credibly made in compliance with the electoral laws.”